For the first time since
pre-Columbian days the
ball court atXochicalco
comes alive on the spring
equinox as teams from
Sinaloa play a game once
common throughout
Mesoamerica. In this ver
sion of the ceremonial
contest-one of 15 local
variations to survive
Spanish repression
players may hit the hard
rubber ball only with their
hips as they attempt to
keep it in play. For pro
tection they wear cotton
padding under a tradi
tional deerskin loincloth.
Accustomed to playing
on a flat, unfenced court,
the Sinaloa teams discov
ered that the sloping sides
of this ancient court made
it easier to keep the ball
in bounds. Remarked one:
"Now we know how our
ancestors played." The
survival of such games
rests in part on the enjoy
ment the players and
audience derive from bet
ting on the outcome.
In antiquity players
personified celestial
beings, such as the power
ful Tezcatlipoca, or
Smoking Mirror, shown
in east (red) and west
(black) manifestations in
the Borgia Codex (far
left), an almanac from the
central Mexican high
lands. A striped sacrifi
cial victim reveals the
probable fate of defeated
players.